Beyond the Startide Nexus By Dirk Wehner

‘No… no, that can’t be right. Could you play it Shadowsun paused for a moment and listened to
again, please?’ some indiscernible words from outside the field of
view of the hologram. She nodded before she went on.
The bridge of the T’au warship Glimmerstar was only
dimly lit. Most of the crew were off duty, and only ‘I have to make this short. Despite the traumatic
two T’au huddled around a holographic projector events our brothers and sisters of the Fourth Sphere
discretely built into a white panel. One of them was fleets have suffered through, as soon as we reunited
O’yeldi’nar, known to his subordinates as Silverwing. we began the Expansion of the Fifth Sphere in
The other T’au was his communications officer, earnest. Soon we established new colonies on worlds
Por’ui’vas’ka. She glanced at her commander for a we wrested from the grip of Be’gel, Gue’la and Y’he.
moment and nodded, working the input panels of However, each time we met the Gue’la in combat,
the communication station to restart the message the survivors of the Fourth Sphere committed
they had just retrieved from a battered, lonely atrocities far beyond every necessity of war. It was…
interstellar drone. problematic. Unfortunately, further interrogations
into the cause of these troubling actions had to
Once more, Commander Shadowsun appeared as a wait. We have recently come under attack by a new
transparent hologram, seemingly directing her words foe. Our enemy seems to be of Gue’la nature, but
to the two watching T’au as she spoke to a messenger nothing like we have encountered before.’ The face
drone. She seemed tired and her voice lacked its of the famous T’au Commander looked haunted for
usual confidence. a moment. ‘They call themselves the Death Guard,
and we have learned that they do so rightfully.’
‘This is O’Shaserra speaking. I hope this message
arrives in time for you to be warned. In time for you The hologram now showed a group of warriors, clad
to act. We successfully traversed the Startide Nexus in heavy armour and advancing through thick fog.
and established contact with our lost brothers and They looked not unlike the Gue’ron’sha – the Space
sisters of the Fourth Sphere. As suspected, they had Marines – but they seemed bloated and repulsive. As
suffered a failure of their AL-38 Slipstream modules O’yeldi’nar and Ui’vas’ka watched, they opened fire
but… we don’t understand exactly what happened with their primitive bolters, gunning down a group
yet. For your reference, I have attached the recordings of Gue’vesa. Every booming shot they fired somehow
of their surveillance drones. Most of the material was sounded… wet. Inexorably, the warriors advanced,
far too corrupted to gain useful information. The crunching stones and corpses underneath their
segments that were not… well, see for yourselves.’ mutated feet.

As O’yeldi’nar and Ui’vas’ka watched on, the ‘The Imperium might shun the teachings of the
hologram changed to show images from the inside Greater Good, and they might be primitive and
of a T’au ship. Despite having already seen the whole barbaric,’ Shadowsun continued, ‘but these Humans
message, O’yeldi’nar swallowed hard and averted are not part of the Imperium. They are worse. In the
his eyes for a moment. He did not desire to see the congenital greed for power that plagues all their kind,
torn and ravaged corpses of the settlers again, the they formed a terrible alliance.’
splattered blood on the walls, the terror in their
dead eyes… The hologram switched to show a revolting mound
of putrid flesh with a grinning face and splintered
‘These brave colonists entered the wormhole of the horns. Immediately, the quality of the picture
Startide Nexus in search of new worlds to spread dropped noticeably. The creature swung a rusty blade
the teachings of the Greater Good,’ Shadowsun’s and cut a Crisis Battlesuit in half. Another Shas’ui
voice continued as the hologram switched back to attacked with his burst cannons. The blubbering skin
her, ‘but they found only death. The few survivors… of the monstrous figure caved in, only to reveal a
they have changed. As soon as they laid eyes upon horde of smaller beasts, cackling and spilling forth
our unfamiliar auxiliary troops, they reacted with to bury the T’au underneath their mass. The Shas’ui
open animosity. There is no trace of their own. screamed, but his voice did not come from the
Investigations are still ongoing, but none of the speakers. It seemed to be resounding everywhere on
Fourth Sphere survivors are willing to speak of the the Glimmerstar’s bridge at once. The lights flickered
events before our arrival.’ and the hologram abruptly vanished.
The scream seemed to linger for a moment. acknowledgement of a superior foe. I hope this
message arrives in time for you to be warned…
O’yeldi’nar and Ui’vas’ka looked at each other and these were the words Shadowsun had begun with.
said nothing. A similar thing had happened the first A warning.
time they had watched the message, but the screams
of the dying were somehow different this time. It ‘Thus,’ Commander Shadowsun spoke on, ‘I have
almost seemed as if they were… closer. Neither of come to a decision. We cannot stop the Death Guard
them understood, and neither of them dared to try. this side of the Startide Nexus. After dozens of
battles, our fleets are too damaged. Our strength has
Moments later, the hologram came back to life as depleted to a point that we cannot halt this incursion
if nothing had happened. It now showed a starkly any longer, if we still want to secure the expansion
reddish nebula between flickering stars. of the Nem’yar Atoll. We are now forced to choose,
and we choose the latter. We are trusting in you, our
When O’yeldi’nar looked up, he could see a similar, comrades beyond the Nexus, to counteract the Death
off-putting nebula outside the ion shielded and Guard threat.’
reinforced cupola of the Glimmerstar’s bridge.
Similar, yet far away from where the message With these words, the hologram changed to once
had been recorded. It was the Startide Nexus – again show an outside view. In front of the deep,
Commander Silverwing and his fleet were part of galactic wound of the Startide Nexus, the fleet of
the heavily armed T’au garrison on this side of it, T’au warships were approaching an armada of
the Zone of Silence. The message had come from the crude vessels. Even by Human standards, these
other side. With all of the information he had about ships seemed primitive and outdated to O’yeldi’nar,
the Nexus, O’yeldi’nar wondered how the messenger but that wasn’t the most disquieting thing about
drone had even survived the dangerous crossing. them. Far worse were the malignant, fleshy growths
that covered the ships in a wholly perverted and
The hologram now showed a T’au fleet coming into unnatural fashion. Porous flesh boils suppurated
view. By the look of it, the ships had been through pus-like matter into the void. Disgustingly bloated
several engagements, showing scorch marks and eyeballs the size of Orca dropships blinked lazily at
improvised repairs. the oncoming T’au fleet, and enormous tentacles
swayed like seaweed. The most terrifying thing of
‘These Gue’la cannot be reasoned or bargained with.’ all though, was the sheer size of the fleet, which
Shadowsun’s voice returned. ‘Even less so than the outnumbered the T’au by far.
rest of their kin. In the same way the Gue’la of the
Imperium adhere to their Emperor, these monstrous ‘As I record this message,’ Shadowsun said, ‘we are
aliens have turned to the savage worship of a being closing in for a final engagement with the enemy’s
they call Nurg’hel. It seems they fell victim to a host main fleet.’ The hologram returned to Shadowsun
of maladies whilst simultaneously developing a as she paused and checked a series of screens and
strange resistance against them, becoming dangerous data. ‘Projections are grim, but we shall do as much
vectors which must be stopped at all costs.’ damage as we can before withdrawing. I will help you
in this way, but I cannot allow my forces to deplete
‘Nurg’hel,’ whispered Ui’vas’ka. Again the bridge light beyond a point where I risk my own campaign. Even
of the Glimmerstar flickered ominously. O’yeldi’nar now, I fear I could risk too much, but it is for the
tried to ignore it. Greater Good. I showed you what we face. What you
will have to face. It might be against the teachings of
‘In the past three vek’tar, our troops have met Puretide for us to intervene one last time, but it is the
this dangerous foe in numerous engagements,’ least that we– ’
Shadowsun continued in the hologram. ‘The warriors
of the Death Guard have attacked us on multiple Suddenly, the hologram flickered and Shadowsun
front lines. They are extremely resilient. We are looked at something outside of the picture.
outnumbered. We are outgunned.’ ‘Damage report.’

O’yeldi’nar shook his head in silence as he watched ‘Shield generators compromised’, an artificial voice
the message. Impossible. This seemed like a desperate droned in the background.
‘We have lost Black Squall and Ivory,’ another voice Heart, please repeat… some sort of mucus-ridden
reported from elsewhere. energy beam. Corrosion damage on multiple decks.’

Shadowsun closed her eyes for a split second, before Shadowsun nodded in acknowledgement. ‘Moon’s
re-addressing the drone. Heart, disengage and retreat. All available crew,
prepare countermeasures on Tidestrike and Zephyr
‘I have even less time than I anticipated,’ she said, Bond. All Kor’el, maintain attack pattern.’
with more urgency than before. ‘We are certain that
the Death Guard aim to cross the Startide Nexus. We The picture shook once more as the Clarity Blade,
will try to stall them as long as we can, but we cannot Shadowsun’s own flagship, took a heavy hit, and the
stop them.’ Commander reeled for a second before she could
steady herself.
The hologram flickered again as Shadowsun’s ship
was hit. O’yeldi’nar wondered if the Commander had ‘All disposable energy to the front shield generators!’
survived the engagement, or if he was witnessing her Shadowsun commanded. ‘And watch out for that…
final words. that unidentifiable object on our flank.’

‘I can only hope this drone arrives at the Zone of She glanced at the messenger drone for the last time.
Silence intact,’ Shadowsun went on, ‘and that we can The tiredness had vanished from her eyes, replaced
hold the enemy at bay long enough for you to prepare by the determination of a true T’au Commander.
yourselves for their coming.’
‘End recording,’ she said. ‘All ships, prepare for
‘Tidestrike and Zephyr Bond report boarding parties,’ Kauyon manoeuvre and-’
someone from outside the field of view said. ‘Moon’s
Heart reports several hits with some sort of… Moon’s The hologram abruptly cut to nothing.
Aboard the Glimmerstar, O’yeldi’nar and Ui’vas’ka hasn’t enough ships to stop every enemy vessel
looked at each other, then up at the void outside their from entering.’
warship. It was empty, apart from their own fleet and
the heavily armed space stations of the T’au Empire, ‘We have recently detected growing distortions in
guarding this side of the Startide Nexus. the Nexus, Commander. Maybe the enemy fleet
was destroyed on its way here,’ Ui’vas’ka offered,
‘When was this message recorded?’ ‘in the same way as the Fourth Sphere Expansion
O’yeldi’nar asked. fleet. Or maybe the alliance of the Gue’la and their
associates has ended and this… this Nur’ghel has
Ui’vas’ka indicated to the time stamp. ‘There is no attacked them.’
way of mistaking it, Commander.’
‘Too uncertain,’ the Commander said, curtly. ‘What
O’yeldi’nar shook his head. ‘This cannot be right. If it if there was some kind of temporal distortion? What
was correct then the enemy fleet would have arrived if the enemy fleet knows a way out of the Nexus that
by now.’ we don’t?’

‘Maybe Shadowsun defeated the Gue’la after all?’ Ui’vas’ka couldn’t answer his questions and
Ui’vas’ka suggested. stayed silent.

‘There is simply no way that they could have stopped ‘We have to account for Shadowsun’s warning. We
a fleet of that size. Stalled, yes. Defeated? Not even have to be prepared. Fleets do not simply vanish,’
Shadowsun could do it.’ O’yeldi’nar looked warily O’yeldi’nar said.
up at the stars, as if anticipating the appearance
of a virulent fleet at any given second. ‘Consider Together, they stared out into the void, which
the sheer extent of the Startide Nexus. She simply remained unsettlingly empty.